Eish, the early morning wake up call begins
again! There was a tremendous storm last evening which destroyed our fancy new
gazebo – two poles are now bent and snapped. Him Outdoors posed for a photo
which is sure to melt the heart of Game SA, when we write a strongly worded
letter about the expensive product which lasted 3 nights. There is a branch of
Game in Nairobi so we think we can obtain a refund or exchange.
Henry wrapped and packed, cats secured and
on board, we are off, mindful of the many warnings about travelling in
Tanzania. It’s slow. Very, very S L O W. They don’t have the endless
checkpoints of Zambia, but the speed limit in ‘settlement areas’ is 50km/h, at
times and where the roadworks are, dropping to 30km/h. About 90% of the 400kms
from Mbeya to Iringa is ‘settlement’ with the balance being construction of the
new highway. Where the new highway is complete, we are allowed to drive on what
looks wide, level and straight enough to land a Boeing. It screams to unleash
the horses below Henry’s bonnet but no, 50km/h it is.
This is a good time to mention the efficient Tanzanian traffic speed policing, a remarkable merger between state
of the art technology and good old, rustic African officialdom. Here is the
overview: at some point, vehicles will pass an officer wielding some type of
speed measurement device. We can’t describe it as we didn’t see a single one,
just suffered the effects at points 2 and 3. If a vehicle is clocked in excess
of 50kms, a photo + the speed is WhatsApp’d to a police check point some way
down the road. These cops pull the offender over. If the offender doesn’t stop,
he is grabbed at another checkpoint several kilometers further on. Waved to a
halt, the officer asks for your license and requests that you pull over and
park. He then shows you the photo on his smartphone and you are taken along to
where another 2 officers are sitting on a hand carved bench under a tree,
writing out the fines and accepting your cash. These points are all placed outside
police stations, so any trouble, you are marched directly into the station and
presumably locked up if necessary. No desk, no admin, just a simple carbon copy
book, a cash box and a rustic bench. Job done. HO was nabbed twice within the
first hour of leaving Ntengule Coffee Farm. The first time, 73km in a 50km
zone, the second 83km. Same fine (seems
to be a set amount for all speeds) – Tsh30 000, about R180.
Considering
that 30km/h over the limit in SA would see him jailed, this is quite
reasonable. Except we’d filled Henry’s tummy with diesel and had Tsh20 000
on hand. Give the officers their due, they were not tempted by the lollipops or
pleas to issue a warning or reduce the fine. Explaining at the first stop that
we were TSH10 000 short and on our way to an ATM, he helpfully suggested
we turn back as Mbeya was 20kms behind us whereas the next ATM was 70kms ahead!
Kenyan shilllings were accepted to make up the balance and we finally put that
behind us. Within a short distance, closely following a big truck (you know,
stick to the locals) we were a bit confused by an officer waving halt to both
the truck and ourselves. The truck pulled off and we assumed he was the target.
Driving carefully, about 10kms later another officer sternly stood in our path.
Same drill, HO marched across to the bench to look at the photo then came
steaming back – both we and the truck had been bust. This time took longer
because to their great excitement, the police check pulled over two Malawians
driving under the influence and, as we were empty of Tsh, negotiating foreign
currency took a while.
Thereafter, it was hawk eyes for the rest
of the lengthy journey watching for barely visible speed signs and erring on
the side of caution. Ten hours to travel 400kms. And
we still haven’t seen the actual speed device, although we sailed through
another 8 or so roadblocks.
The Saffers we’d met at Ntengule
recommended Riverside Valley campsite in Iringa, reached by a challenging road
(rather slippery after the rain) but we are glad we took their advice. The
campsite to ourselves, a lovely thatched stone and glass rondavel to cook in
and right on the riverbank. Speckle and Anushka have explored to their heart’s
content and I wish I’d had my camera at hand when A did a Pride Rock scene from
the Lion King, but in any case I was too frightened she’d fall off straight
into the river.
We’ve made good time, it’s another 2 days
to Arusha and from there 1 day to Nairobi so we’ll rest here for a day then
have an early start for what may be our first self-sufficient roadside stop, as
we can’t seem to find anything between Dodoma and Arusha.
The rain has knocked out comms since we
left Zambia and our Tanzanian data isn’t working (may be operator error – we
have 5 different sim cards in 2 phones, both of which are smarter than HO and
I! It is a bit frustrating not to be able to respond to people or to loadup
the blogs timeously but not too serious really. In fact, it’s rather amusing to
be in the same communication spot of 19th century East African travellers.
We are keen to get to Arusha and hopefully the big city will oblige with WiFi.
They were keen to reach the Thorn Tree in Nairobi to pick up their mail.
Different media, different times, same problem. But what a treat to look
forward to, getting back in touch and catching up on all of the news from home.
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